Introduction
The Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund, created after Cyclone Ditwah, has been announced without a single woman among its members. This exclusion is not a technical oversight; it is a political and moral failure at a moment when recovery decisions will determine who lives, who loses livelihoods, and who is left behind. The Women and Media Collective’s statement calls attention to this omission and demands immediate corrective action to ensure recovery is equitable, effective, and rights‑based.
The Exclusion
The Fund’s all‑male composition sidelines half the population and excludes civil society expertise, privileging a public–private partnership model dominated by corporate interests. This structure contradicts Sri Lanka’s commitments to gender equality and inclusive governance. Promises of equal representation and the existence of women leaders across political and community networks ring hollow when none of those women are included in the national recovery mechanism.
Women Bear the Brunt
Evidence from Sri Lanka and around the world shows that natural disasters disproportionately harm women and girls. They face higher mortality risks, greater economic losses, and an increased burden of unpaid care work. Disruptions to essential services—reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, safe childbirth—compound these harms. Women working in informal sectors lose livelihoods with little social protection, and financial exclusion limits their ability to recover.
Why Women’s Leadership Matters
When women participate in disaster decision‑making, responses are more equitable, inclusive, and effective. Women improve early warning reach, design safer shelters for caregivers and people with disabilities, and prioritize services that sustain families and livelihoods. Women bring local and Indigenous knowledge crucial for adaptive agriculture, water management, and community resilience. Excluding women is therefore not only unjust; it undermines the Fund’s capacity to deliver durable recovery.
Intersectional Impacts
Disaster impacts are layered by class, ethnicity, geography, and disability. Poor women, and women from marginalized communities such as the Malaiyaha in Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, and Ratnapura, face compounded vulnerabilities. A Fund that ignores these intersections will fail the most affected communities. Recovery planning that does not account for multiple, overlapping disadvantages will reproduce inequality and deepen poverty.
Demands to the Government
The statement sets out clear, actionable demands:
- Reconstitute the Fund to ensure meaningful and equal representation of women, including those from marginalized and disaster‑affected communities.
- Include civil society and women’s organizations with proven disaster response expertise.
- Institutionalize gender‑responsive budgeting, monitoring, and accountability across all recovery and climate financing structures.
- Fully resource the National Commission on Women so it can fulfill its mandate.
- Publicly disclose appointment criteria and disbursement processes for transparency and accountability.
- Commit to minimum gender quotas in national disaster and climate governance.
- Rescind Emergency Regulations that are not essential for disaster management and relief.
Conclusion
A recovery process that excludes women is ineffective and dangerous. Women are not passive victims; they are first responders, community leaders, and holders of critical local knowledge. If Sri Lanka is serious about resilience, equity, and democratic governance, women must be at the center of recovery decisions. Rebuilding Sri Lanka cannot succeed without the full and equal leadership of women.
Read the full statement: